Crop Numbers Reveal Industry in Transition
The USDA released numbers Friday that capture extremes.
As of June 1, farmers had 2.84 billion bushels of corn in storage bins, and total corn stocks stood at 5.23 billion bushels. It was the highest on-farm corn storage in 29 years and the greatest overall corn stock in 30 years.
Farmers who have been waiting for a rally will need to clear out storage bins to make room regardless of price, said Brian Hoops, an analyst with Midwest Market Solutions. Data from the USDA suggests farmers are doing just that. They moved more than 2 billion bushels of corn out of storage bins between March and June, which was the third-largest movement on record.
Farmers also seeded a record amount of soybeans this spring amid hopes of strong export demand. They planted 89.51 million acres of soybeans.
All-wheat plantings fell to a record low of 45.657 million acres. Wheat stocks as of June 1 also were the largest in 29 years.